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This Christmas, the postal service in the United Kingdom issued a series of holiday stamps designed by North Texas artist Jorge Cocco Santángelo. The artwork, as well as the selection of Santángelo, represents the peace and unity this holiday signifies for millions of people around the world.
Santángelo grew up in Argentina, where he said his gift for artistic expression was “manifest” at an early age. He spoke to us from his home in Forney this week, with his son Amiel Cocco translating.
“I grew up in a small town where there weren’t any art schools or artists who would guide me,” Santángelo said. “I did my own research, my own studies, just reading and looking at books, which also, there were not that many of.”
Santángelo said he noticed that most religious art was done in classical style, so he started experimenting with what he calls “sacrocubism,” which has become his calling card. He depicts familiar biblical scenes with vibrant colors and geometric shapes. Think Picasso meets flannelgraph. It’s in this style that he created original images of Christmas scenes with the Holy Family, the magi, and an angelic choir for the Royal Mail.
An exhibition of Santángelo’s art was already on display at the Museum of Biblical Art in Dallas before the stamp series was released. That exhibit has been extended until May.
Santángelo and his wife have six children and 12 grandchildren, some of them living in the U.S., and some in Argentina. He followed his son to Texas last year, when Amiel Cocco was a bilingual teacher at Dallas ISD’s Hawthorne Elementary School.
With justifiable pride, Santángelo told us that the final approval for stamp design comes from Queen Elizabeth herself.
Santángelo, who turned 85 Monday, grew up Catholic but converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1962. As such, he represents a hopeful selection for royal yuletide — one that crosses boundaries.
It has been less than 40 years since the Falklands War put Britain and Argentina into military conflict with one another.
And though Mormons consider themselves Christian, there is disagreement over that point among theologians.
Rather than getting into doctrinal disputes, Santángelo simply told us, “I believe Christianity must contribute to unifying and global peace.”
That’s a holiday message we can get behind, and we’re glad a North Texan is delivering it through his artwork on stamps that will travel far and wide.
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